Some ideas we're working on include:

• Accessing PACE's Vanpool/Car Pooling services.
• Creating Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) rush-hour lanes on Lakeshore Drive.
• Local shopping shuttles.
• Adding lakefront express and north-south arterial bus routes.
• Conveniently located multi-modal centers where residents can access rail, bus, shared rides, bike rental, car sharing (I-GO) or shuttle options
• Increase access to Metra by reopening stations along the Ravenswood line.

We look forward to continue developing real and viable solutions to this critical issue. Click here for a draft of the 48th Ward CTA Response to this issue. Your ideas, suggestions and, best of all, commitment to work on this together would be appreciated.

Please contact Tom Samuels, tom@masmith48.org or (773) 293-8417 if you have any questions or comments.

Public Meetings/Forums
Alderman Smith will be holding public meetings and forums to organize around vanpool/carpool programs, increased bus service, and other community-based initiatives.

Please check back here for regular updates and information on community meetings. Or, if you want to be notified of upcoming events, click here.

For additional information, check out the following links:

• CTA's Brown Line Expansion Project's main website
• Plan a trip with the CTA
• ACE's vanpool program
• CTA's homepage

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Traffic circles beautify a community
while calming traffic.

Traffic Calming

The speed and volume of traffic cutting through our neighborhoods is a serious public safety issue, especially for seniors and children. Many of our intersections are difficult and dangerous to cross, and traffic fumes and pollution pose health risks to all. Part of the solution is to force drivers to respect the City’s traffic laws and thereby ensure that our streets are safe for all users. Toward this, the 48th Ward is home to Chicago’s first Traffic Calming projects including the use of Traffic Circles, Chicanes, Speed Humps, Intersection Bump-outs and textured street crossings.

The 48th Ward’s traffic-calming initiative was the focus of a major feature in Planning magazine, published by the American Planning Association. Click here for the full text.

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Car Sharing

Working with the Centers for Neighborhood Technology, the 48th Ward was a pioneer in introducing car-sharing to Chicago. Car-sharing affords residents the chance to use a car for a nominal fee whenever one is needed, eliminating the need for many people to own cars. The net effect is a reduction in traffic congestion, parking requirements and exhaust emissions and significant savings for participating families. Car sharing sites are now located at 5345 Broadway, 5250 N. Sheridan Rd, and under the Thorndale Red Line station

For more information, visit the I-GO website.

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Walkable Communities

No one disputes the beneficial effects of walking to increase the health of individuals and entire communities. Whether it is through cardiovascular exercise for people young and old or the reduction in auto emissions that results from fewer car trips, walking has myriad advantages for all. However, our society has, over the years, become more car-centric. Alderman Smith’s walkable communities programs are designed to help undue the societal structures that have driven us into cars and help us back onto our feet.

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Walking School Bus/Safe Routes to Schools

Many parents will drive their children just a few blocks to their neighborhood school because of concerns about safety and the high-speed streets that children must cross. The Walking School Bus and Safe Routes to School are community-driven programs that provide adult guidance and planned routes that children can take to their schools and activities with a maximum of safety. Often, this involves reconfiguration of dangerous intersections and traffic control devices to favor pedestrian safety over commuter speed. But the net effect is a safer community for our children and the ability for children to enjoy fresh air and exercise on a daily basis.

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